FreightRatesMCP

What a lane costs this week, before you brief a forwarder.

Base URL

https://api.freightratesmcp.com

Lane routes are GET, live quotes are POST /v1/rates/quote, and the same data is served over MCP. Every route needs a tmcp_ key whose organisation holds an active freightrates entitlement, sent as Authorization: Bearer or x-api-key. Usage headers ride on each response.

Authentication

Authorization: Bearer tmcp_…

Keys carry the tmcp_ prefix. See the authentication guide.

Rate data returns under { "data": … }. Errors return { "error": { "code", "message" } } with codes such as missing_key, invalid_request and not_found.

Transport hierarchy

Every quote request and every quote sits in one hierarchy: transport_mode (Sea, Air, Road, Rail), then shipping_type, then transport_unit (a container, a RoRo vehicle or an air ULD). LCL, LTL, LWL, Bulk and Aircargo have no transport_unit. The docs write a level path with hyphens: Sea-FCL-20'st, Sea-FCL, Road-FCL, Road-LTL, Air-Aircargo, Air-ULD-AKE, Sea-RoRo-Truck. Air-ULD (AKE, PMC, PAG) is not priced yet. Dry bulk weight is weight_mt, in metric tonnes.

transport_mode	shipping_type	transport_unit	Notation
Sea	FCL	20'st, 40'st, 40'hc, 45'hc, 20'rf, 40'rf	Sea-FCL-20'st
Sea	LCL	None	Sea-LCL
Sea	Bulk	None (weight in weight_mt)	Sea-Bulk
Sea	RoRo	Truck, Trailer, Lorry, Van, Car, Plant	Sea-RoRo-Truck
Air	Aircargo	None	Air-Aircargo
Air	ULD	AKE, PMC, PAG	Air-ULD-AKE (not priced yet)
Road	FTL	None	Road-FTL
Road	LTL	None	Road-LTL
Road	FCL	20'st, 40'st, 40'hc	Road-FCL-40'hc
Rail	FCL	20'st, 40'st, 40'hc, 45'hc, 20'rf, 40'rf	Rail-FCL-40'hc
Rail	LWL	None	Rail-LWL
Rail	FWL / FTL	20'st, 40'st, 40'hc	Rail-FWL, Rail-FTL

What we price

Every shipping type below goes through one call, POST /v1/rates/quote. Fields and examples are on that page.

Hierarchy	What it is	What you get
Sea-FCL-20'st, Sea-FCL-40'hc	Ocean, full container	Live spot rates from shipping lines and forwarders, plus published line tariffs. Port to port, worldwide.
Sea-LCL	Ocean, part load (consolidated)	Live consolidation rates, port to port, priced on your weight and volume.
Sea-Bulk	Dry bulk	Indicative only: dry-bulk market indices by ship size (Capesize, Panamax, Supramax, Handysize). Use it as a market level, not a charter quote.
Sea-RoRo-Truck, Sea-RoRo-Trailer	Roll-on/roll-off ferry freight	Ferry freight on North Sea, Baltic, Irish Sea and Channel routes, plus vehicle shipping on deep-sea RoRo lanes.
Air-Aircargo	Air freight and express	Airport to airport general cargo, plus express courier products for small shipments.
Air-ULD-AKE, Air-ULD-PMC, Air-ULD-PAG	Air, unit load device	Not priced yet. Accepted and answered with `status: not_priced_yet` and no quotes.
Road-FTL	Road, full truck load	Live prices from European road hauliers, the haulier named on each quote. FTL is the default above 12 t.
Road-LTL	Road, groupage, pallets and road parcels	Pallet, groupage and road parcel prices across Europe, Ukraine included.
Road-FCL-20'st, Road-FCL-40'hc	Container trucking (drayage)	Price to truck a full container between a port or terminal and a city.
Rail-FCL-40'hc	Rail, full container	China to the Caucasus, Turkey and Central Asia over the Middle Corridor (Khorgos to Poti, Batumi, Baku, Tashkent). Routes through Russia or Belarus are never returned.
Rail-LWL	Rail, part load (less than wagon)	China to Europe rail groupage, door delivery and customs clearance where the quote says so.
Rail-FWL, Rail-FTL	Rail, full wagon or block train	Accepted. No live rates yet: the answer carries `unsupported_mode` instead of quotes.

Carriers

Carriers named in the carrier field of our quotes and sailing cards. This is not a closed list: every other carrier is available through forwarders.

Ocean FCL

Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, COSCO, OOCL, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, HMM, Yang Ming, ZIM, Wan Hai, PIL, SM Line, TS Lines, SITC, RCL, Gold Star Line, Interasia Lines, MCC Transport, CNC Line, China United Lines, Emirates Shipping Line, Shipping Corporation of India, Sinotrans, Zhonggu Logistics, Unifeeder, Matson

Air and express

DHL Express, FedEx, UPS, Aramex. General air cargo quotes name the airline when the rate is airline-specific.

RoRo and ferry

Stena Line, DFDS Seaways, Irish Ferries

Rail

KTZ Express (Middle Corridor and China to Central Asia)

Road

European road hauliers and parcel networks, named on each quote (for example LOGMACO, FME Frachtmanagement Europa, Courierheld), and Nova Poshta for Ukraine.

Endpoints

Live quotes

POSTGet a live quote/v1/rates/quote POSTGet booking contacts/v1/rates/book

Rates

GETLatest indices/indices GETLatest lane rate/lane GETLane rate cards/lane/cards GETLane rate history/lane/history

Webhooks

POSTRegister an endpoint/v1/webhooks GETList endpoints/v1/webhooks GETEndpoint detail and deliveries/v1/webhooks/{id}PATCHUpdate an endpoint/v1/webhooks/{id}DELETEDelete an endpoint/v1/webhooks/{id}POSTSend a test delivery/v1/webhooks/{id}/test

MCP server

The freight-rates server exposes the same capabilities as tool calls over Streamable HTTP. Point any MCP client at the endpoint below. See the MCP quickstart.

MCP endpoint

https://mcp.freightratesmcp.com/mcp

get_spot_quoteLive and indicative quotes in every shipping type. Same as POST /v1/rates/quote.

get_booking_contactsBooking contacts for one quote. Same as POST /v1/rates/book.

get_lane_spot_ratesStored spot rates for a port pair, refreshed daily, instant answer. FCL by container, LCL as a W/M ladder.

get_freight_indicesWeekly market index per trade. Same as GET /indices.

get_lane_rateLatest indicative rate for one port pair. Same as GET /lane.

get_lane_offersEvery sailing card for a port pair. Same as GET /lane/cards.

get_lane_historyDaily median curve for a port pair. Same as GET /lane/history.

list_rate_providersRate sources by mode and status, anonymised.

Navo Tokens

On an account that holds Navo Tokens, one prepaid balance shared by the Navo products, MCP calls are paid from that balance. One balance opens every Navo service through MCP (TrackingMCP, AirCargoMCP, FreightRatesMCP, SchedulesMCP and LoadingMCP): no separate MCP access per product is needed. A product your account manager closed for your account stays closed, and a key scoped away from a product cannot reach it. MCP and API usage are counted separately: an MCP call never spends an API key's monthly call limit, and a REST call on your API key never spends Navo Tokens. An empty result is free, and a refused call charges nothing. Alerts and webhooks are free. Prices and packages are on the pricing page.

Prices. A port pair costs 100 tokens, and 10 to repeat the same pair within 24 hours. A live quote (get_spot_quote), the lane rate, the lane offers and the lane spot rates are views of the same port pair, so asking for a second one of them within 24 hours is the repeat price. After 24 hours the pair is new again, because market rates go stale.

When the balance cannot pay. The call is refused with 402 and the code insufficient_credits (or trial_expired, wallet_inactive when the balance cannot be spent at all, or no_wallet when the account has no balance yet, with credits_balance null), nothing is charged and no data is returned. Beside code and message, the error object carries four optional fields, the same on every Navo service:

– credits_required (integer, or null when the price is not known): the tokens this call needs;
– credits_balance (integer, or null when the account has no balance yet): the tokens your balance holds now;
– top_up_url (string): the Billing page of your account settings, where you buy more tokens, or null when no link can be given;
– packages (array of { plan, credits, usd }): the token packages you can buy, Starter 7,000 tokens for $69, Growth 40,000 tokens for $349, Scale 200,000 tokens for $1,399.

The fields are additive and optional. Keep branching on code, and read them when they are present.

A key scoped away from Freight Rates gets 403 product_not_enabled, "Freight Rates is not enabled for this API key. Contact your account manager to open it."

A refusal for a balance that cannot pay

{
  "error": {
    "code": "insufficient_credits",
    "message": "Not enough Navo Tokens for this quote.",
    "credits_required": 100,
    "credits_balance": 12,
    "top_up_url": "https://app.trackingmcp.com/settings?tab=billing&buy=credits",
    "packages": [
      { "plan": "starter", "credits": 7000, "usd": 69 },
      { "plan": "growth", "credits": 40000, "usd": 349 },
      { "plan": "scale", "credits": 200000, "usd": 1399 }
    ]
  }
}